ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF HER VISIT TO COLÁISTE BHRÓGÁIN NAOFA
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF HER VISIT TO COLÁISTE BHRÓGÁIN NAOFA CO. CORK ON FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 1998
It is a great honour for me to be here this evening at Coláiste Bhrógáin Naofa - to share in your very special event – an event which will last in all your memories as one of rejoice. I am very grateful for having been invited to your prize-giving - and I would like to thank Fergal McCarthy – who wrote to me suggesting that I might be your guest of honour this evening. Speaking of prize-giving - I am reminded of the story about the man who had very little education but was very successful in business. At a prize giving in his old school he lectured the young students by telling them that they should “always remember that education is a great thing. There’s nothing like education. Take arithmetic. Through education we learn that twice two makes four, twice six makes twelve, seven sevens make . . . and then there’s geography!”.
As you progress through your secondary education, you will naturally concentrate on what you will be doing later. Some of you will be entering the labour market for the first time. Others will go on to further education. Whichever path you choose, you are starting on a journey which has the capacity to take you to unforeseen destinations.
Examination results are, however, only one aspect of education today. A person’s working life is part of a wider, life-long learning experience where change is really the only constant. Advances in modern communications and the advent of the information superhighway have added to the pace of change and are profoundly impacting on all our lives. But it is often better to see change as an opportunity to be seized with both hands. John Henry Newman put it nicely when he said, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often”. That ability to change is essential to your continued success.
While we are here this evening to give recognition to some well deserving young people who have excelled in certain areas – you have all excelled in ways that are not always measurable through tests. Some of you may have overcome personal obstacles or hurdles – maybe having to deal with problems in the home – problems like unemployment – alcoholism – illness - or bereavement. You may be coping with these situations alone – without the knowledge of your teachers or your companions in school. Overcoming these burdens and trials will have given you other qualities – qualities that cannot be measured - qualities that will always stand to you. Each in your own way has layered up markers of your character for the future. You should all be proud of yourselves – proud of your sung and unsung accomplishments.
The importance of these early years cannot be over-stressed – the years when first impressions are indelibly etched onto your consciousness – when “what is learned in childhood is engraved on stone” – the years when your direction in later life is largely determined by the seeds that are sown in childhood.
Those of you who have read Frank McCourt’s best seller - ‘Angela’s Ashes’ - know how as a child in a deprived family - the window of learning was opened for him when by chance he discovered books and libraries. That happy chance opened the gates of appreciation for literature and learning – it started a process that was to see him leave his native Limerick partly educated - and eventually, carve out a successful career in the United States through adult education. It’s worth remembering that in Frank McCourt’s case – where his father wasn’t the best provider – where his family suffered because of his father’s alcoholism and desertion – that it was that same father who introduced him to poetry and songs – that even the worst parent is capable of giving a good legacy to a child. The point of course is that books in the home – that parents talking to children – telling them stories – teaching them songs – that all these thing matter.
For those of you who may be nearing the end of your school years – who are about to embark on the next phase of your lives – to meet new people – have new experiences – you should do so with an open mind. You should not be blinkered by the blind opinions of others – you should not be led. You have the capacity to empower yourselves by adding to your wealth of knowledge. You have been equipped to form your own views. A combination of your academic and life experience skills will allow you shape the future you wish for yourselves.
With an open and welcoming attitude to the world you will be able to shape your post-school life in the form you want it to take, I wish you all the very best for the next century.